Planet Weather for the Week of April 5, 2009

 

NewsBits: Pluto Station Retrograde Manifestations. The two or three times a year that Pluto slows down and stays at the same degree for about 2 months or  more (due to its slowing) is always a significant celestial/sky event. Pluto’s Station Retrograde (Rx) on 4/4/09, is the most current example. Energy builds up about a week in advance of the exact Station. With Pluto one can feel tension certainly, but also one’s vulnerability and wounds are often reopened, including the fears that ail us in negotiating our way through life. With Pluto, it can be abandonment, jealousy, passion, arousal, anger, intensity, desire, fear of loss – to name a few, but you get the gist. Once Pluto gets hold of you in one of the above ways it can be obsessive and overwhelm you with the sheer force of the emotion that’s been tapped. You will have your personal story of an intense week, especially if Pluto made significant contacts to your birth chart. Even without that, one can feel the charge in the air and the reactions of others around us.

Along those lines, we have to look at the senseless mass slayings in Binghamton, NY, at the Americain Civic Association, where people were taking tests to become US citizens, and courses to prepare for these tests. Fourteen people were killed (including the shooter), and the event shows full force the rage that Pluto can unleash – reminiscent of erupting volcanoes. This is a good analogy for Pluto because Pluto energy very often builds below the surface to such an extent that it then explodes with all that has been accumulated.

 

The NATO Summit in Germany co-hosted by German chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicholas Sarkosy was also big news this week. President Obama sough support from foreign leaders for his new Afghanistan policies. However, with Mars/Pisces opposing Saturn/Virgo, also on SAT, there was much resistance by other countries to committing troops, and there were many demonstrations in the streets. North Korea would not be denied press and was chastised by the international community for threatening to test another missile, and it did just that, surely to test the new President of the US and the hand of NATO.  The Pluto tension and it’s penchant for powerful change revealed itself in another mass shooting, and also the gathering of the most powerful people on the planet to make decisions on the world’s most pressing issues.

 

SkyWatch: Moon phase of the week: 4/9 -- The Moon reaches perfect Fullness at 9:46 PM EDT, at 19 degrees of Libra. This Full Moon is known in various traditions as the Pink Moon, the Egg Moon, the Fish Moon, and the Paschal Moon. Sky factoid of the week: Easter is the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Spring Equinox. Got that? (Technically, Easter is the first Sunday after the Jewish holiday of Passover, which is likewise determined by the post-equinoctal Full Moon.) Skywatching events of the week: 4/7 -- The nearly Full Moon will pass about 6 degrees south of yellowish Saturn low in the western sky before dawn. Space news of the week: The Space Shuttle Discovery returned to Earth after an orbital construction mission that installed the final section of the space station's truss structure and unfurled two giant solar wings that completed the station's electrical grid and boosted the international science laboratories to full power. Next up: a May mission by Shuttle Atlantis to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, which has more than earned its keep (and this repair mission) over the past two decades. Go out! Look up!

 

 Knowing when VOC Moons occur is key to planning your successful week!

 

The Void-of-course (VOC) Moon is a kind of limbo. As it reaches the end of a sign, the Moon makes no major aspect to another planet before it enters the next sign. VOC is best for less outcome-oriented activity, since VOC often means detours, distractions, drifting, or delays. If you want specific outcomes, or if timeliness is critical, don’t use a VOC Moon time. VOC is best for processing, imagining, creating, and open-ended activities, like parties, research, or cleaning your desk/closet for instance! It is said that when a new action is initiated during VOC, “nothing will come of it,” or energies go in unplanned directions, which may not necessarily be negative.

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Week of 4/5/09 – Sunday (scattered), Monday (productive), Tuesday (surprising, disruptive), Wednesday (challenging), Thursday, (Full Moon – relationship gymnastics), Friday (research, reflective) and Saturday (resourceful).Thursday and Saturday are the most active energetically and potentially very productive days – more Moon or planetary aspects for engagement with others or projects, and/or producing results. On 4/5/09, the Moon is VOC/Leo from 11:39AM to 7:01PM EDT – On 4/7/09, the Moon is VOC/Virgo from 12:52PM to 11:22PM EDT – On 4/9/09, the Moon is VOC/Libra from 9:46PM to 5:23AM EDT (next day)!

 

Planet Patterns & Cosmic Headlines:

 

*Currently Active: Venus is retrograde (Rx) in cardinal, fire Aries. Venus/Aries turned Rx on 3/6/09. Venus entered Aries on 2/2/09. Venus turns Direct @ 29 Pisces on 4/17/09. Venus in Aries is always vibrant and ready for new things even in its retrograde cycle. However, there’s a bit of a kickback to past action or relationship situations that may need review or clarification. This is not a time to take relationships for granted and it is a time to look at the values you hold and ask yourself what they mean to you and how they direct the course of your life. You may have experiences of values clashes and other relationship disharmony during this cycle.

 

Mercury enters fixed, earth Taurus on 4/9/09 until 4/30/09. Mercury slows down in Taurus, so it’s a good time to develop some of the ideas that sprouted in the last month. It’s a great time for some creative marketing to make your product or service more presentable and desirable. Remember to utter many sweet words and sentiments (provided they are sincere) to all those in your life who make your world go round and bring you joy. Mercury will trine Pluto, trine Saturn, and then square Jupiter and Neptune during its passage through Taurus. Strong ideas/desires turn into a detailed plan which will meander  in unexpected and creative directions.

 

Venus Rx enters mutable, water Pisces on 4/11/09 until 4/24/09. Venus dips back into the very last degree of Pisces, perhaps to remind us to not take things too seriously, and to marshal our kindness, compassion, and understanding of both others’ failings and our own. This would be a time to look at the weave of your life and how you’ve been brought to this moment. There’s a poignancy as Venus sits at its 29^th degree for almost two weeks.

 

*Currently Active Paradigm-Shift Pattern:  Part 2 of 5 – Saturn in mutable, earth Virgo opposite (180 deg. angle) Uranus in mutable, water Pisces on 2/5/09 @ 20 deg.  – Preview: Part 3 of 5 is exact on 9/15/09 @ 24degrees. Progress is being made but the machinery is huge and complex. We may not even have the repair parts that are needed, constructed yet! It’s time for innovation as well as reconstruction. It is a work in progress and remains uneven with fits and starts.